For roughly thirty years, Mexico City has been a city in rapid decline, threatening to descend into a murky stew of crime, pollution, and chaos. But in recent years the city has regained its footing, experiencing an urban renaissance powered by a series of projects that have dramatically improved the quality of life of the 18 million people that make the city their home.

Leadership or stalemate?

Explores U.S. position on developing countries in climate protection efforts. Concludes that climate protection requires the initial leadership of a few countries that bear historical responsibility for the problem and have considerable capability to act.

Details struggles over basic design and features of the Clean Development Mechanism established in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Reviews different designs and explores how an &quot;open architecture&quot; CDM might operate.

by Nancy Kete and Kevin Baumert with Christiana Figueres - August 2000

Examines voluntary participation by developing countries under an approach that reintegrates the two facets of the common but differentiated principle. Discusses the use of an alternative form of emission targets -- greenhouse gas intensity targets.